Spring Chickens à la Russe

Poulets de Grain à la Russe (spring chickens in the Russian manner) teaches larder, to thread fat and seasoning through lean meat so it bastes from within. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is that the bacon and anchovy strips must be very cold and the scalded breasts completely dry. Soft bacon smears instead of passing through the flesh; wet skin will not frizzle.

This entry asks for neither a saucier nor a stockpot kept simmering. It assumed a turning spit, a larding needle, a paper horn for pouring fiercely hot bacon fat, and enough hands to manage them without breaking stride. At home, two small chickens feed four, a rack in a roasting tin replaces the spit, a narrow metal skewer opens the channels, and a small saucepan gives you a controlled stream of fat. The spit, needle, paper horn, and brigade quantity are scaffolding. The five-minute scald, bacon-and-anchovy larding, truffled sausage meat, roasting, final frizzle, and separate Rémoulade are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

The source's burning bacon fat means fiercely hot, never alight. Pour it low over a dry bird inside a deep roasting tin, and the skin crackles and tightens under the stream. If a lardon softens before it passes through the breast, stop and chill it again. Ça se rattrape. Before you begin, clear space for a cold tray and a dry roasting tin; taut skin and firm lardons decide this dish.